Monday, January 21, 2013

Here is a summary of the very small amount of cake-making I did last year. Balancing a newborn in the mix of everything else here did not allow for much! (See: No Blogging) But I did manage to eek out a few things.

These are little chocolate dipped marshmallows I made for Halloween. Franken-mallows!

This was the first birthday cake I made for the baby. I've been wanting to make a cake covered in sprinkles for a while! Keeping in mind it was only 2 tiers of 4 and 6 inches, it didn't take me as long as I thought or as much sprinkles as I thought. I have lots left over!

The oldest turned 7 and request a Cowboys stadium. With the doors open, Mom. I didn't have much time to work on it and I would change a few things, but it turned out ok!

Disney Princess Half Marathon: My costume (a preview)

Another update: To see how the finished product turned out, CLICK HERE!!!

Update: It's finished! It turned out pretty good! Buuuuuut..... I think I have decided not to post pics of it until AFTER the race. I want it to be original! Don't worry, I've taken several pics of the process so that when I get time, if there's interest, I'll make a loose instructional post. So, now all I have to do is do a practice run in my costume. It's a good thing we have a treadmill, even though it doesn't work that great. Otherwise I'd be gettin up at zero-dark-thirty to run in the dark so I don't look a fool!!!

I am SO above and beyond excited for this race! Entering me in it was my birthday present from my husband. I'm going by myself, which I have mixed feelings about. I'm sure it will be good to get away (for 36 hours) but I wish so hard we all could go. It's on a Sunday morning, and in the middle of school for the boys. I'm flying down Saturday morning and back Sunday afternoon after the race. But this has been on my "bucket race list" ever since I knew it existed!

I'm a big Disney buff! But since we have all boys, there's a sad lack of princess-y things around here. So, since I knew people dress up for these races, YOU BETTER BELIEVE dressing up! Yay! I'm so making a costume. I've been between making a complete costume and "dressing up" some regular running clothes. Especially since comfort is key for me. I decided on the later, since I can get additional use out of the running stuff. I've been scouring the Internet for months looking for ideas. I've finally come up with my own design. (You'd think I'd pick a princess that wears pink like Sleeping Beauty so I could wear PINK but I'm a Cinderella girl so blue it is! The thing of it is, her original dress WAS pink, but those bitchy step sisters ruined it!)

I purchased some basics at Academy since I didn't have what I needed in the correct colors. I decided on an inexpensive tennis skirt since running skirts are like $50-60!!!

Then I got some glittery satin in 2 colors for an over skirt and arm puff thingies (I'm sure there's a technical term....) and some soft black ribbon for the choker.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

I can't even remember how I stumbled on this on the Internet. Probably browsing Pinterest.... But I saw several posts on making your own coffee cream. I'm a big coffee drinker and I do use creamer. I usually buy the standard non-dairy flavored creamers. They are filled with all kinds of questionable crap, but like most of us I just do the ol' cover-my-ears-and-sing-LALALALALAAA. The recipes suggest using a mixture of sweetened condensed milk (which is FABULOUS In coffee by itself) and milk. I'm not exactly "dairy free", but I tend to not tolerate milk that well (hence the creamer). So I made this with coconut milk, although if you want to just use the same amount of regular milk. I did choose the sweetened coconut milk, which has cane sugar already in it and some other stuff.

Into a large measuring cup (or right into your storage container, you could reuse your creamer bottle. I used a quart size ball jar) pour out 2 cups milk. Add one small can sweetened condensed milk. For vanilla flavor, I added 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. You could add whatever you want! Almond would be good too. Then Shake! (I found shaking worked better than stirring). That's it!!!!

Y'all. This is so good. It tastes like cremé brûlée. Or custard. I dare you to not sneak a taste....just remember, the point of making this is for it to go in your COFFEE, not your MOUTH. Can you imagine just eating (drinking?) coffee-mate straight? Ew.

Next I am going to try making my own coconut sweetened condensed milk first then add the milk so it will be a completely dairy free option. As well as closer to a "Real Food".

YUM.

Nutrition info: I compared this to what I usually use...homemade is 60 calories per ounce, compared to 70 on the store bought. Yay for that! Plus you know EXACTLY what's in it. Cost wise, it's pretty much the same. I got this coconut milk at WM, back in the section by the cokes/beer. They have it for the lowest price, but only this kind and the unsweetened kind. So not a wide variety, but good for them for carrying it.

These were so fun. I *meant* to do a different one each week, but let's be real...who has time for that!! I did do red nails with Santa belts right on Christmas but I forgot to take a pic ....boooo.
(Tags: sparkly Christmas tree nails, buddy the elf manicure, Rudolph the red nose reindeer manicure, winter snowman manicure )

Aggies Do It Better is getting a facelift... Lots of new stuff coming SOON!